10th Planet 2003 UB313 imaged from Brisbane

[Dennis]

Hi Guys

I think that I managed to capture an image of 2003 UB313 on Thursday morning, between 1:29am and 2:14am.

Details:
Vixen 4” f9 refractor.
SBIG ST7E ccd camera.

Four images stacked.
Each image was 15 minutes auto-guided by the ST7E.

Image captured from my backyard in Brisbane.

Today, I compared the field to the animated gif on the Sky & Telescope website at http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1560_1.asp and on my image, I have marked the suspected position of 2003 UB313 with 3 white lines.

The faintest object according to The Sky 6 Professional on my ccd image is a 19.18 mag star listed in the USNO catalog as follows:

Object name: USNO Star
Magnitude: 19.18
Equatorial: RA: 01h 39m 41.19s Dec: -05°18'25.21"(current)
Equatorial 2000: RA: 01h 39m 24.13s Dec: -05°20'16.26"
Horizon: Azim: 73°40'56.44" Alt: +38°30'52.57"
Visibility: Rise 22:21, Set 10:50
Transit time: 04:38
Source catalog: USNO
Hour angle: -03h 15m 31.75s
Air mass: 1.61
Magnitude B: 19.80
Magnitude R: 18.80
Screen x,y: 424.00, 340.00
Sidereal time: 22:24
Click distance: 1.0000
Celestial type: 0
Julian date: 2453586.1407
Angular separation: 00°01'07.16"

Any comments as to the accuracy of my assumption would be welcome. The 4 images were flat fielded, dark subtracted and median combined.

Cheers

Dennis

Update:
The second image shows how the CCD camera software (CCDSoft) can overlay the captured image onto the Planetarium program, The Sky V6 Professional. This makes it much easier to identify the field and the field stars, along with their magnitudes and hopefully locate any objects of interest. Image 2 is the original orientation. Image 1 has been rotated 180 deg to match the comparison image that I used from a N Hemisphere image on the S&T website.

[iceman]

I have no idea if that's right Dennis, but if it is, congratulations!

[Kieken]

Take another pic next year and you'll know :). Anyway, congratz if you got it. Seems a difficult thingie to shoot to me.

[gaa_ian]

It must make finding Pluto seem like a walk in the park ;-)
Well done!
With the motion of the 10th planet I have seen in other shots, it should only take a few days to confirm your find I think ?

[Ganymede]

With a 4" scope that's a superb effort .. well done :innocent:

[Dennis]

Thanks guys!

The GoTo system and SkyTools planetarium program that I used to locate the field that probably contained 2003 UB313 made the task relatively straightforward, so the only "credit" I can take is being daft enough to set all the gear up at 1-o-clock in the morning. However, I was VERY surprised to hit mag 19.1 under Brisbane skies.

The ST7E is an amazing CCD camera; it really extends the light grasp of the 4” Vixen, especially during a 15 minute exposure. The FOV is approx 26 x 18 arc mins.

I’ll try again over the weekend to see if I can detect any movement. Hopefully the guys from Astrofest will bring back some good images too – I didn’t make it up there this year.

Cheers

Dennis

[beren]

Thats excellent Dennis , very interesting and thanks for sharing ill be keen to see any updates

[ving]

done with a 4"!!! woah!
WD! :)

btw was there ever a ub40?

[cahullian]

ving a ub40 is a dole form the poms use to lodge a claim for payment

[Dennis]

New 10th Planet 2003 UB313 update from 6th & 7th August.

Here are some further images clearly showing the movement of this little blighter. The 6th & 7th Aug images were 20 mins auto-guided with 4 and 3 images stacked respectively. Same rig, Vixen 4" f9 refractor, SBIG ST7E ccd camera with the field acquired using SkyTools SW.

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south]

Great stuff Dennis. Missed catching you at Astrofest, but nice to see you were very productive elsewhere :thumbsup:

[Starkler]

Thats a great catch Dennis, you should be proud :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Unreal!